There are two known prior art techniques for brazing a commutator to a plurality of adjacent armature wires which are arranged one above the other. In one technique, a U-shaped clip is manually inserted onto the lowermost armature wire such that one leg of the clip is positioned between the lowermost armature wire and the armature wire directly above it, while the other leg of the clip is positioned between the lowermost armature wire and the commutator. Upon application of electrical current to the commutator and the armature wires, the clip melts. As the molten metal solidifies, the armature wires are mechanically and electrically connected to each other and to the commutator. Although the normal brazing alloy is a phosphorous and copper mixture, the clips must have a silver content in order to give them the rigidity necessary to assume and maintain their U-shape. Thus, this prior art technique has two primary disadvantages. First, the clips are expensive to manufacture, especially due to the pre-shaping process required to manufacture them and the need to employ silver as part of the brazing alloy. Second, the manual insertion of the clips is time consuming, thereby increasing the overall length of the brazing operation.
The other prior art technique involves feeding a single brazing alloy wire between two armature wires which are positioned in a slot formed in a riser of a commutator. This technique requires that the commutator be provided with a riser. The provision of a riser on the commutator is disadvantageous because it increases the manufacturing cost of the armature and, hence, the resulting electric motor.